A woman and her three children were found shot to death in their western Ohio home, officials said.A handgun was found in the neat and orderly home, and investigators were interviewing the woman's boyfriend, who had recently moved out, Montgomery Sheriff's Maj. Ed Copher said."I wouldn't call anybody a suspect at this time," Copher said.Tonya Hawks, 31, and her three sons, ages 2, 4 and 5, had moved into the rented house last summer. The bodies were found Saturday in various locations in the house and appeared to have been dead for several days, Copher said."The house was secure. Nothing would suggest that it was an intruder," he said. "It didn't appear there was a struggle or anything."... http://www.cnn.com

The region's first major storm of the season slammed the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states with nearly 2 feet of windblown snow early Sunday, canceling church services and shutting down air travel from Washington to Boston. Blizzard warnings were posted for much of the Northeast, with predictions of wind gusting up to 50 mph, the National Weather Service said. Heavy snow warnings were in place from eastern Kentucky to New England. The weather service predicted as much as 2 feet of snow across the New York metro region. By 8 a.m., a foot had accumulated in Central Park as the flakes fell at a rate of about 2 inches an hour. Philadelphia's northern and western suburbs measured up to 18 inches, the weather service said. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/11/national/main1307699.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=U.S._1307699

The Shia bloc set to lead Iraq's first full-term government has picked PM Ibrahim Jaafari as its candidate for prime minister in the new cabinet. Mr Jaafari won by one vote over Vice-President Adel Abdel Mahdi. Each was backed by two key factions in the United Iraqi Alliance, which fell just short of a majority in the poll. Correspondents say the question for Mr Jaafari is if he can win the support of Sunni and Kurd politicians, who have been critical of his time in office. His transitional government has been widely accused of poor performance and discrimination against Iraq's Sunni Arabs. The UIA had delayed a decision on a candidate until Sunday, after failing to agree on a choice in talks on Saturday. The discussions among factions within the umbrella UIA came after final poll results confirmed the alliance was the biggest bloc in the new parliament. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4705930.stm

Details emerged last night of a shocking video which appears to show a group of British soldiers brutally beating and kicking defenceless Iraqi teenagers in an army compound. The footage is said to show eight soldiers pulling four teenagers off the street following a riot and dragging them into their army base, before beating them with batons, as well as punching and kicking them. An urgent Military Police investigation was under way last night into the events shown in the video. The Ministry of Defence issued the following statement: 'We are aware of these very serious allegations and can confirm that they are the subject of an urgent Royal Military Police investigation. We condemn all acts of abuse and treat any allegation of wrongdoing extremely seriously.' But the emergence of the footage, given to the News of the World by an anonymous whistleblower, will spark a huge controversy about the conduct of the army in Iraq. There were also fears that it could lead to more attacks ...http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1708162,00.html

Strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran's nuclear sites as a "last resort" to block Teheran's efforts to develop an atomic bomb.Central Command and Strategic Command planners are identifying targets, assessing weapon-loads and working on logistics for an operation, the Sunday Telegraph has learnt.They are reporting to the office of Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, as America updates plans for action if the diplomatic offensive fails to thwart the Islamic republic's nuclear bomb ambitions. Teheran claims that it is developing only a civilian energy programme."This is more than just the standard military contingency assessment," said a senior Pentagon adviser. "This has taken on much greater urgency in recent months."...http://telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=U2Z0SXQFRBM03QFIQMFCFGGAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2006/02/12/wiran12.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/02/12/ixportaltop.html

Federal agents have interviewed officials at several law enforcement & national security agencies in a criminal investigation into The New York Times’ disclosure of a US domestic eavesdropping program, the newspaper reported. In a story posted to its Web site to appear in its Sunday editions, The Times said the investigation was focused on circumstances surrounding its disclosure late last year of the highly classified program. Officials and others interviewed by the Times said the investigation seemed to lay the groundwork for a grand jury inquiry and possible criminal charges, the Times said. Many described the investigation as aggressive and fast moving, with the initial focus on identifying government officials who have had contacts with Times reporters, particularly those in the newspaper’s Wash bureau. It said an FBI team had questioned employees at the FBI, the National Security Agency, the Justice Department, the CIA and the office of the Director of National Intelligence, and ...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11298336/from/RSS/